Spirit Express

Spirit Express > Reducing Our Carbon Footprint

Help Offset the Moderator's Carbon Footprint

Moderator Mardi Tindal has invited United Church members and congregations to help offset the carbon expenditure required of a Moderator to travel throughout the church. In doing her part, she carefully weighs time and carbon-burning choices in planning her itinerary. For her 2010 and most 2011 Conference visits she will be travelling via the “Spirit Express” (train) throughout Canada.

You are invited to join with her by decreasing your carbon consumption and, if you wish, by contributing to a Greening Sacred Spaces fund that will assist United churches with carbon reduction and clean energy developments for their buildings. Find out how below, under Calculate Your Carbon Consumption.

St. Paul’s United Church in Kindersley, Saskatchewan, reports that they have reduced their carbon emissions output by almost 34 tonnes per year, more than offsetting the Moderator’s first year of travel!

Please let the Moderator know of your efforts by e-mailing offsets@united-church.ca with news of your carbon-reducing commitments. With your pledges for the next two years, it will be possible to calculate how well we’ve done to reduce our carbon footprint as faithful people of The United Church of Canada.

Calculate Your Carbon Consumption

An easy way to calculate your carbon consumption for travel, home and food is by going to the Greening Sacred Spaces Carbon Calculator. By inputting your current carbon consumption you will get a baseline of what you consume. You can then adjust the calculations to see how much can be saved by taking more public transit, reducing heating costs, eating less meet and local, and so on. The savings may seem small in a number of cases, but added with other United Church folks, it soon adds up.

 You can also choose to donate to the Greening Sacred Spaces United Church fund and receive a tax receipt for your donation (click the Offset button).

Tips for Reducing or Offsetting Carbon Consumption

Below are a few examples of how carbon consumption can be reduced or offset. These are general guidelines and rough calculations that help you make decisions about reducing carbon consumption: 

• Travel: A medium-sized car burns approximately 0.03 tons per 100 km. So reducing car travel by 100 km a week would save 1.56 tons a year.

• A commuter train or bus burns approximately 0.01 tons per 100 km. So taking the train or bus to work (100 km round trip) would save at least a ton of carbon a year over car travel.

• Plane: Travelling on a plane burns 0.09 tons per 100 km, or approximately 1 ton for a trip to Vancouver from Toronto. Choosing to telecommute or vacation locally can save significant carbon.

• Home: Having a set-back thermostat on your furnace, using compact fluorescent lights, caulking and insulating, and so on can make a significant difference in your house energy costs and save up to a ton of carbon a year.

• Food: By eating less meat, or eating lower on the food chain (grains, beans, vegetables), can save about a ton of carbon expenditure a year.

All of this adds up to less carbon being burned and often a healthier lifestyle. Let us know what you do over the next year: offsets@united-church.ca. And if you find these calculations too difficult, just e-mail your description of the changes you’ve committed to make, and we’ll do the math!

Climate Change Accountability Act

We also need to keep working at how to reduce our carbon footprint as a nation, beyond these individual and communal efforts, to meet the challenges of climate and ocean change. The Moderator also encourages you to join with her in making your voice heard with Canadian senators who are making decisions in relation to the Climate Change Accountability Act. For more information about this act and how you can join the Moderator’s advocacy efforts, see her blog “You’ve given me hope.”